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Historic
References to Native Use:
"I
wondered to see them burn themselves
on their bare arms with the pith of
the elder tree, for the pleasure of
it, letting it burn away and smolder
on them, in such wise that the wounds,
scars and cicatrices remained there
indelibly." 1624
Sagard HURON
"The
root and bark of elder for a person
failing in his limbs, it is necessary
to boil it and put it in a little
soup, drinking about a pint of
it." 1724
Anon. ILLINOIS-MIAMI
"I
have seen the Iroquois boil the inner
bark of the Sambucus Canadensis, or
Canada elder, and put it on the part
of the cheek in which the pain was
most violent from toothache.
This I am told, often diminishes the
pain." 1748
Kalm Philadelphia December 31st. 228 IROQUOIS
Indians
when poisoned by Cicuta [Poison Water
hemlock] eat elder bark as an emetic.
1807 Pursh
ONONDAGA July 18th
"Flowers
of the elder are made into a tea to be
given to babies with colic. The
bark of the elder made into a tea is
an excellent purgative; when scraped
upward from the branch it acts as an
emetic, when scraped off downward it
is a physic." 1915
Speck-Tantaquidgeon MOHEGAN 318.
The
dried flowers are made into a tea
which is used as a febrifuge...The
Menomini recognise that it is a very
powerful medicine and only to be used
when the instructions for use are very
carefully followed, and when other
remedies for the same complaint are of
no avail. Four joints of the
trunk are chosen, the diameter of a
man's finger, say three-quarters of an
inch. These sticks are of a
measured length, from the point of the
ulna to the point of the humerus.
If these sticks are now peeled
downward, the resulting inner bark and
rind are steeped and boiled, then
thrown away. The liquid is drunk
and saves the life of one threatened
with serious constipation. This remedy
is only used in extreme cases, for
there are many other remedies for
constipation and this is a dangerous
one unless needed, when it becomes a
drastic purgative. If these same
sticks were peeled upward and
the tea drunk, then it would have
acted as a powerful emetic.
There is probably no doubt of its
emetic and purgative properties,
but the mechanical difference in
preparation is surely pure
superstition..." 1923
H. Smith MENOMINI
27. [Same
account of preparation as given above
for elderberry.] Smith adds;
"The writer can testify to its
strength, but notes that it works both
ways at once, no matter how prepared,
so that the method of preparation is
doubtless superstitious." 1932
H. Smith OJIBWE
360. "...The
root bark of the elder is used by them
to free the lungs of phlegm. The
bark tea is used only in extremely
difficult cases of partutition, when
the baby is born dead...While the
Meskwaki like to eat these raw [the
berries], they also cook them into a
conserve. They prefer them
without sugar when cooked...They punch
out the pith and make water squirt
guns for playing, or else popguns for
shooting pith corks." 1928
H. Smith MESKWAKI
207. "Red-berried
elder. The inner bark of the
Red-berried elder is accounted the
most powerful physic which the Forest
Potawatomi have and it is used in the
same manner as the Menomini use
it."
1933 H. Smith POTAWATOMI
46. "The
Iroquois recognise the syndrome of a
dry hot skin, chills, thirst,
prostration and muscular pains.
Their management of the case seems
quite modern as it included rest,
sweating, purgation, diuresis and a
restriction of the diet to
liquids. Copious infusions of
elderberries, either the fruit of the
inner bark, were given to cause
sweating and diuresis, which
properties the medicine actually
possesses." 1934
Stone IROQUOIS
531. " A healer, half-Indian, affectionately known as Aunt Hat, cured a
boil by burning some alum and sprinkling ashes on it so hot that puffs of smoke
issued from the boil. After draining the pus, she dressed the wound with an
elderberry poultice, as follows: three gallons of the white inside bark of
elderberry; one and a half gallons of water; ten cents worth of beeswax; a lump
of rosin the size of a hickory nut; twenty-five cents worth of camphor gum; one
half pound of mutton tallow; two ounces of camphor. A copy of Aunt Hat's salve
recipe was found in the family Bible (F.H., M, 30, pub., Eng.-Ger., Cleveland,
1962). Puckett, American Folklore from the Ohio Collection
8217. "Cherokee remedy for severe headaches: 7 green elderberry leaves, cooled in
water, Water in which leaves were immersed is taken onto mouth and blown 4 times
on top of victim’s head as he sits in chair facing east. Prior to each blow
this is said: You Apportioner! (4 times). Ha! very quickly! You have just come
to hear! “Medicine!” He has just come to say." 1964
J. F. Kilpatrick OKLAHOMA
CHEROKEES 214. "Used
elder for ague and inflammation.
The berries as a sauce which was a
valuable remedy in fevers of patients
and convalescense. The blossoms
in hot water as a tea. The flowers
were sometimes used with
cornmeal."
1970 Bye IROQUOIS
mss. Malecite
and Micmac Indians of the maritime
provinces of Canada use the common
elder as a purgative and soporific,
emetic and physic. 1979
Chandler, Freeman & Hooper MALECITE
and MICMAC
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